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Enlarge ImageRequest to buy this photoJoao Henriques | Associated PressA protester challenges police near the Portuguese parliament in Lisbon during a general strike. Commuters were stranded yesterday as public transit ground to a virtual halt.

BRUSSELS — Hundreds of thousands of Europe’s beleaguered citizens went on strike or snarled the
streets of several capitals yesterday, at times clashing with riot police, as they demanded that
governments stop cutting benefits and create jobs.

People with jobs and without spoke of a “social emergency” crippling the world’s largest
economic bloc, a union of 27 nations and a half-billion people. In Madrid and Barcelona, Spain,
street battles resulted in numerous arrests and left dozens injured.

Protests were met with tear gas in Italy and Spain but were largely limited to the countries hit
hardest by the austerity measures designed to bring government spending into line with revenues.
Wealthier nations such as Germany, the Netherlands and Denmark saw only small, sedate
demonstrations.

To combat a three-year financial crisis over too much sovereign debt, governments across Europe
have had to raise taxes and cut spending, pensions and benefits. In addition to hitting workers’
incomes and living standards, these measures also have led to a decline in economic output and a
sharp increase in unemployment.

The zone of the 17 countries that use the euro currency is expected to fall into recession when
official figures are released today. Unemployment across those countries has reached a record 11.6
percent, with Spain and Greece seeing levels above 25 percent.

“There is a social emergency in the south,” said Bernadette Segol, secretary general of the
European Trade Union Confederation.

Spain’s General Workers’ Union said the nationwide strike — the second this year — was being
observed by nearly all workers in the automobile, energy, shipbuilding and construction industries.
The country, reeling from austerity measures designed to prevent it from asking for a full-blown
international bailout, is mired in recession with 50 percent unemployment among those younger than
25.

Frustration spilled into violence when riot police clashed with demonstrators in Spain.

In the evening, tens of thousands filled the downtown streets of Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia and
other Spanish cities.

By early evening, 118 people had been arrested across Spain, and 74 people, including 43 police,
were injured.

In Italy, protests turned violent as well, with some of the tens of thousands of students and
workers clashing with riot police in several cities. Dozens of demonstrators were detained, and a
handful of police were injured, according to Italian news reports.

In bailed-out Portugal, where the government intends to intensify austerity measures next year,
the second general strike in eight months left commuters stranded as trains ground to a virtual
halt and the Lisbon subway shut down. Hospitals provided only minimum services, and municipal trash
was left uncollected.

Protest marches in 40 Portuguese cities reportedly were peaceful, but as night fell a small
group of protesters threw rocks and bottles at riot police protecting the parliament building in
Lisbon.

Airports across Europe were forced to cancel flights to and from striking nations.